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In her conversation with BlogHer.org Monday night, Julia Louis-Dreyfus said if her show, "The New Adventures of Old Christine," is renewed for a third season, the set will go green.
"We set a goal for ourselves," said Louis-Dreyfus, whose commitment to the environment was written up by Amanda Griscom in Grist.org. "If we're lucky enough to come back next season we are going to make our set the greenest set on the Warner Brothers lot."
Click here to watch the video of the 30-minute conversation I had Monday night with Louis-Dreyfus and Kari Lizer, executive producer of "Christine." I showed up with great questions from women who blog -- and I'll list them below -- but first please note the words:
"if we're lucky enough to come back...."
Wonder what that means? Didn't the show win an Emmy for Best Actress in Comedy? Yes it did. But in a world where the Internet now gets more eyeballs than television, nighttime dramas are hot and reality television's Nielsen ratings trump all, they want to stay on the air. See "ABC is Monday's 'Dancing' Queen'."
As you'll see from the video, both Louis-Dreyfus and Lizer said that "Christine" is important because it shows a different slice of womanhood in divorced, working mother Christine Campbell. Their own perspectives on the role of women in the television industry came out wonderfully in response to a question from Liz Gumbinner of Mom-101, about an January article in Vanity Fair. The conversation went like this:
LISA STONE: Women are funny right? Don't know if you read the article in the Vanity Fair article by Christopher Hitchens writing about "Why Women Aren't Funny"? And TVGuide recently called women in comedy an endangered species. What do you think about that? Post-Emmy, what do you think about that?
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS: What was the name of Hitchens' article?
STONE: "Why Women Aren't Funny"
LOUIS-DREYFUS: I didn't read it. And I'm hoping that that was a sarcastic name for the article, because it's the most inane thing I've ever heard in my life. No offense Mr. Hitchens. But I don't even know really how to respond to that. I do know that on TV there aren't many comedies right now. drama is sort of it right now. I also feel that these things are cyclical. I don't feel it, actually, I know it. Back when I was doing Seinfeld, there were tons of half-hour comedies...now we have drama...
KARI LIZER: It's not a lack of funny women it's a lack of comedy in general being represented on television, and certainly the notion that women aren't funny is ridiculous. Although, I will tell you, that the traditional multi-camera format has been sort of a man's world. And the behind-the-scenes writing staff. That is the truth. We have sort of half-women, half-men. I have many times been the only woman on a staff.
LOUIS-DREYFUS: And I've been the only woman in a cast.
LIZER: Even though there's been traditionally -- Lucille Ball -- there's been funny women for a long time. I think women creating comedy and writing comedy I think is fairly new. There's always been funny women. So I beg to differ with what's-his-name!
Laughter
Guided by these great questions, we also talked in-depth about:
- Nordette's question: What it's like to turn real life divorce (like Lizer's) into comedy - do they see the humor during the rough times or after?
- Jennster's question: How do both women feel about balancing work and motherhood and how they balance the guilt factor
- Dorothy's question: What lesson do they
want their children to learn from their work - Without my even asking, Louis-Dreyfus and Lizer
talked about how lucky they were compared to so many moms -- touching on Sassafrassa's question. - Jenn Satterwhite's question: Does being famous get you more respect from a teenage son? Will Christine every get the upperhand with her arch-nemeses, the Meanie Moms?
- Y's question: How has the Internet changed the way they produce and write Christine?
- Rebecca's question: How green are the sets? How much of an impact can actor's have?
- MizzJenny's question: Is Christine redefining what a real mother looks and acts like?
On the latter two, I must offer a huge mea culpa -- Rebecca, I called you Rachel on the air. I apologize! And Jenny, I was so in love with your question and the thoughtful answers I was getting about motherhood from these women (who gave up dinner with their kids
